January 15, 1967

"Go, Go, Gandalf"

By PHYLLIS MERAS

"Most of what goes on at Tolkien Society meetings is pretty 'in' stuff," Richard Plotz, the 18-year-old, Harvard-bound Brooklynite who is founder and president of the organization, said recently. "We hiss when Black Riders are mentioned because they're evil, and discuss subjects like the linguistic breakdown of Elen sila lumenn omentielvo, which means 'A star shines on the hour of our meeting.'"

The Tolkien Society of America first met in February, 1965, beside the statue of Alma Mater on the Columbia University campus. Today, it numbers about 1,000 members. Because the headquarters are in New York, most major meetings are here, but smaller discussion groups, called smials, are held all over the country.

"People don't wear costumes ordinarily," said Mr. Plotz, "although at our last meeting, the checkroom girl at the Hotel One Fifth Avenue did find that she had two unclaimed dwarf-sized cloaks and four dwarf hoods at the end of the evening. But usually the only special things people wear are campaign buttons that say, 'Support Your Local Hobbit' or 'Go, Go, Gandalf.' A few members may have titanium steel washers hung around their necks, because they're the industrial kind of washer that's big and smooth, and some people think they resemble the Ring itself." (The Ring, of course, is the raison d'etre of the various hobbit expeditions that are the subject of Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings.")

"We eat hobbit food, but, basically, when we get together, it's an ordinary meeting-type setup. Our members are doctors, teachers, lawyers, Army officers, housewives and businessmen, as well as students. Until the last time, we've always met at my house, and sat around on the floor talking about theogony and the geography of Middle-earth and things like that. Of course, every once in awhile, someone may charge someone else with an imaginary sword, crying 'Elbereth Gilthoniel,' which is the name of a princess of old and a very power-giving thing to say."